


XOXO Tatler

by Silvestria



Category: The London Life (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gossip Girl Fusion, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Multi, Ridiculous Premise, WHO IS THE TATLER???, Who knows where this is going, so many characters - Freeform, so many relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 05:49:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10587732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvestria/pseuds/Silvestria
Summary: Gossip Girl AU. When society It girl, Viola Fitzgerald, returns to Manhattan after a mysterious absence of six months, everyone is in a hurry to find out where she has been and what her return signifies - from her high school rival, Blanche Carey, to her father's business competitor, Nick Gosling, all the way to her sister's boyfriend and long time friend, Will Devenish. But with the Tatler documenting the every move of the elite, is there any way secrets will stay hidden?





	

_"The Tatler here, your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan's elite. Christmas vacation is over and New York is returning to its classrooms and offices after the break. Spotted at JFK this morning after a sixth month absence, Viola Fitzgerald returning to her home kingdom. Where has she been? What has she been doing? And who am I? That’s one secret I’ll never tell. xoxo Tatler._

“Ugh. I can’t believe it. She’s back.”

Monty looked up from between Blanche Carey’s thighs and blinked up at her. “What? Who is? And – and – I’m down here – and you’re on your phone? _Seriously?_ ”

Blanche rolled her eyes and swung her legs away from him. “Don’t be such a cry baby. And Viola. The one and only Viola Fitzgerald. She’s back. The Tatler saw her at JFK this morning.”

“Wait, my cousin Viola?” Monty pulled himself further up the bed and wrapped the sheets around him. “I thought she transferred permanently to a finishing school in Switzerland.”

“Apparently not permanently.” She did not look up from her phone.

“Huh. Well, it’ll be nice to see her. She’s good fun, Viola. More fun than you, anyway.” He nudged her arm.

Blanche shot him a venomous look. “It will not be nice to see her, Monty. The past semester has been brilliant. No interference. Nobody getting in my way. I have been the undisputed queen of Mayfair Heights High School since September and don’t think I’m going to give up my crown that easily.”

Monty looked nonplussed. “So this where I have to choose between my cousin and my – whatever the hell you are.”

“Fuck buddy. That’s the phrase you were groping for, am I right?”

“Right, fuck buddy. Sure.”

She sat on the edge of the bed and began to reach for her clothes. Monty stared at her back and did not seem as happy as he could have been.

“Anyway,” Blanche continued without turning round, “you’ll pick her of course. Blood will always win over any other ties.” She pulled on a shirt and buttoned it up efficiently.

*

“Remind me why I should care about Viola Fitzgerald. She’s still in high school.”

Daphne hurried alongside her boss, her heels clicking on the floor as she tried to keep up with him.

“You should care about her because she stands to inherit the whole of Fitzgerald Holdings. Word is Richard Fitzgerald is going to groom her to take over from him. Few years down the line, you could find her sitting opposite you in board meetings.”

Nick stopped walking. “She has two elder brothers. This is absurd.”

Daphne rolled her eyes. “Are you genuinely that chauvinistic? Wait, don’t answer that. Robbie is out in Syria, a decorated soldier – hardly in a position to run a company like Fitzgerald Holdings, and they say they’re prepping Rich for Congress. Viola’s the heiress all right.”

“Isn’t there another sister?”

“Olivia? Oh, she’s just a kid. She’s hardly on the radar.”

“Viola is a kid too. You expect me to believe she presents a threat.”

“She’s eighteen and she’s just spent the past six months doing an accelerated course at the London School of Economics. With respect, Mr. Gosling, you are not that much older than her and you were only nineteen when you inherited the Gosling Group yourself.”

Nick almost smiled and Daphne breathed an inner sigh of relief that she had not overstepped the mark. He started off down the corridor again. “Fine. Say she’s some kind of business genius and old Fitzgerald is grooming her to take over from him, I still don’t think there’s any reason the we should feel threatened. The Fitzgeralds are old-fashioned and out of touch. A preppy socialite is not going to change that. Anyway, what’s my next meeting?”

“Honoria Bartram at 10.30 and Algernon Culpepper at 11.”

Nick groaned. “Hell. Whoever said business was sexy has clearly never done business.”

They had reached the double doors of his office. He suddenly stopped again and laid a restraining hand on Daphne’s arm. “You have your sources, don’t you, Daph?”

She eyed him. “I know people,” she said cautiously.

He nodded. “Viola Fitzgerald. I want to know _everything_.”

Then he flung open the office doors and strode in, a polished smile on his face to greet Honoria Bartram.

*

“I don’t _believe_ it.” Kate Steele leaned back in her chair and made a disgusted face at the computer screen. “Look! Look at what she’s wearing!”

Lucy came up behind her and peered over her shoulder at the photo The Tatler had posted before gasping. “It isn’t!”

“It is. New season Fairmont. That little bitch!”

“Wait, wait, Kate – you don’t know that’s what happened.”

“What else could have happened? Face facts. Last June, she all but promised to be the face of Carrington Couture, then she disappears for sixth months and when she comes back she’s wearing Fairmont.”

Lucy shrugged helplessly. “I thought she was in England.”

“Clearly not.” Kate swivelled in her chair and picked up the phone. “Get me Yves,” she barked into it.

“Kate, my darling!” came a voice crackling down the line. “How lovely it is to-“

“Cut the crap, Yves, you snake. Viola Fitzgerald. Explain.”

“What can I say?” She could almost hear the Gallic shrug. “She was in Paris. Rosie saw an opportunity. And have you seen how delightfully it has turned out? Doesn’t she look-”

“You are a devious double-crosser, Yves. First you desert me for _her_ , next you poach my best sponsors. You can tell Rosie I know exactly why she is doing this.”

“I shall pass on any message you desire me to give her.” He paused before saying more gently, “It’s just business, Kate. You shouldn’t take everything so personally. There’s no agenda going on here. Nobody respects Carrington Couture more than I do… You’d do the same in our position.”

Kate took a few deep breaths before saying stiffly, “Au revoir, Yves.” She put the phone down gently and put her head in her hands. Lucy was still hovering anxiously.

“Am I ever going to be allowed to move on from this?”

“Greg was the worst. But you can’t let him affect everything. You _can_ do this, Kate. You can build it all up again.”

Kate gave her a watery smile. “Perhaps I can – if I have you. But for now… Viola Fitzgerald. Fucking Viola Fitzgerald.”

*

“She is going down. She is dead meat.”

“Who is?” asked Elise with some trepidation. She knew that look and it spelled disaster for someone.

Julianne gave her a look that suggested she thought her friend was deficient in intelligence. “Viola Fitzgerald. Obviously.”

“Oh.” You had to have been living under a rock not to have seen the Tatler blast that morning about the prodigal Fitzgerald’s return from wherever the hell she had been for the past six months. “Why- er, why is she going down?”

“Because she’s old news.” Julianne stood up from the bed and began pacing restlessly back and forth across Elise’s bedroom. “She’s missed an entire semester. She’s redundant. She’s only got a few months left before she leaves Mayfair Heights and if she thinks she can just waltz back in and take over again, she’s got another thing coming! That school is mine.”

Elise chewed her bottom lip. “Does it really matter? I mean, she is leaving in a few months. You can collect your crown next year when we’re Seniors. Let her have her last few months if she wants them.”

Julianne spun round and fixed her eyes on Elise’s face with burning intensity.

“ _No._ I’m tired of being in the shadows, having to defer to her and Blanche. My time has come. I’m taking control. And you’re going to help me.” 

“I am? Oh…" 

Not for the first time, Elise wondered if she had made the right decision transferring to New York for the final two years of school.

“Are you with me or not?” Julianne had returned to the bed and sat down, taking Elise’s hand and looking at her beseechingly. “I can’t do it without you, Elise.”

She couldn’t resist her. Not when she pleaded like that. It made her feel truly important. She squeezed Julianne’s hand. “You know I’m with you. Always.”

*

A combination of her phone buzzing under her arm and Will Devenish insistently poking her made Olivia sit up with a start, sending her pen skidding across the desk and her phone clattering to the floor.

“What? What happened?”

Her boyfriend rolled his eyes fondly at her. “Calculus not so exciting then?”

She smiled ruefully. “Sorry. Not exactly my favourite. What is it? Who’s texting?” She retrieved her phone and stared in surprise at all the messages. “What the _hell_?”

“Did you see the Tatler this morning?” Will queried, almost nervously.

“You know I never read that junk. What is it?”

“Well, it seems Viola is back in New York.”

Olivia blinked at him. “Well, obviously she is. School starts on Monday.”

“You knew?”

“She’s my _sister_. We do communicate.”

Will shook his head and stood up. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he strolled across to the kitchen area and filled up a glass of water. “It’s just nobody else seems to know where she’s been. The internet is buzzing. There are some really crazy theories out there!”

Olivia followed him with her eyes. “Since when do you read gossip? I thought we had a deal that we weren’t going to get involved in all these stupid teen fashion wars and crap. We’re above that sort of thing.”

“Sure we are but, you know, this is Viola. And she hasn’t been seen since the night of Freddie’s party back in June.”

“Yeah, exactly.  This is Viola. She won a scholarship to study at the Royal Northern College of Music in England for a semester and she’s been staying with friends in Manchester. And now she’s back. It’s not exactly a great mystery. She’ll be swinging by the Towers later today. Wanna come?”

Will hesitated. “Maybe. I might be busy. Does she – does she know we’ve been dating?”

“No. Thought I’d wait till she got back to tell her in person. You’ve got nothing to worry about though. She loves you, you know that.”

“Yeah, I guess she does…” But he still looked unhappy.

Olivia shrugged and put her arms around his neck and pressed herself close. “It’s okay. Don’t come if you don’t want to. It’ll be the usual weird Fitzgerald family thing. We can all hang out some other time. You’ll see her at school on Monday anyway.”

His arms tightened around her. “I love you, Liv. Sometimes I think you’re the only sane person in this whole city.”

“Damn straight. I’m an open book.” And she smiled and pressed her lips to his.

*

Not two blocks away in his tiny Brooklyn studio flat, Geoffrey Stapleton sat hunched over his keyboard, staring at the picture on the computer screen, now published on multiple paparazzi sites. He jiggled his phone from one hand to the other. He had been sitting like this for several hours. His fingers hovered over one name in contact list, almost selecting it before chickening out again.

“This is ridiculous,” he said out loud. “Grow a pair, Stapleton.”

He typed rapidly into his phone and his fingers hovered over the ‘send’ button. He sighed, put the phone on the table and leaned back with a sigh, rubbing his eyes – and remembering.

Finally, just when his chair was in danger of tipping over backwards, he slumped forwards, grabbed the phone and pressed ‘send’ before he could think about it any more.

_It’s Geoffrey. We need to talk about the night of Freddie’s party._


End file.
